Central Texas has a robust, dynamic, and unique set of workforce institutions — including Skillpoint Alliance (formerly Capital Area Training Foundation), Capital IDEA, and Austin Community College — that are the envy of other communities across the nation. These organizations, as well as Central Texas’ two workforce development boards, embody key features of leading-edge workforce intermediaries. The region is also unique in a number of other respects that make it a particularly attractive site for developing and operating a major workforce intermediary initiative, including: unusually high levels of public and private support for its workforce development services; its pursuit of a cluster-based approach to workforce services; and the level of grass-roots action and public concern over skills gaps and income disparities among its residents. The Ray Marshall Center is coordinating a nine-month planning process to design a workforce intermediary initiative for all of Central Texas, working in partnership with two of Austin’s premier workforce intermediaries: the Skillpoint Alliance and the Capital IDEA. The researchers will also engage a broad array of local stakeholders in this process, including employer groups, community organizations, and philanthropic institutions. The principal outcome of this planning process will be the design and funding plan for a uniquely Central Texas workforce intermediary initiative, based in its own set of institutions, traditions and context.

During the planning process the research will focus on addressing several core questions:

What is the nature and scope of employer demand in targeted sectors for skilled, living-wage occupations?

What is the current capacity and education level of disadvantaged workers who could potentially fill these occupations and what would it take (cost and services) to match these workers to target occupations?

How does Central Texas develop a long-term model with diverse revenue strategies that can create stability and sustainability in workforce initiatives?

What are the key public policy initiatives that can help drive and support these funding streams over time?